Grease not only can cause problem for your health but also your home

BANGOR, Maine (NEWS CENTER) --- As more people prepare to cook for friends and loved ones this holiday season, officials in Bangor want them to keep an important thing in mind while cleaning up. Specifically they're encouraging people not to wash excess cooking grease down their kitchen sinks.

Bangor city officials say that they are seeing more cases of waste-water backing up in parts of the city, which can happen when sewer lines under streets become blocked due to grease that hardens inside them. Those greases can include fats that are left behind from cooking meats as well as cooking oils and lard.

Officials recommend you get rid of them by funneling them into a jar or container and then throwing it out with your trash. They say if the sewer line to your house becomes blocked it can cause major problems.

"When it becomes blocked...its like your arteries in your body," said Wynne Guglielmo, who is the environmental coordinator for the city of Bangor, "There's nowhere for the blood to go so it erupts...and what happens then is sanitary sewage can then back up into homeowner's basements."

City officials say on average sewer service replacement to a home can cost up to $7,000. They recommend residents get sewer backup insurance, which can help pay for cleanup in the event of a waste backup.